Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for expedited access to conference calls

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for admitting conferees into a conference call. Methods to achieve the foregoing can comprise: transmitting an admission request from a user of a communications device to a server for admission to a conference call, the admission request including a unique identifier; storing data unique to the communications device in a data store; relaying the unique identifier from the server to the data store; comparing the unique identifier with the data unique to the communications device; and, when the unique identifier and the previously stored data match, connecting the user directly to the conference call which includes bypassing entry of at least one conference pass code by the user.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of thefiling date of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/812,854, filed on 29Mar. 2004, which, in turn, claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S.provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/552,469, filed on 12 Mar.2004 to the fullest extent permitted under 35 U.S.C. §119(e), and thecontents of such patent applications are incorporated by this referenceas if set forth verbatim herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to conference calling, and moreparticularly to methods, systems, and computer-readable media foradmitting conferees into a conference call.

In the related art, conference call hosts access a conference call bydialing an access telephone number, and thereafter entering or otherwiseproviding one or more predefined codes to access the conference call.This related art processing imposes several burdens on the conferencecall host. Particularly, the host must memorize these codes, in additionto the access numbers, or must keep a card or other item bearing thesecodes readily accessible when requesting a conference call. Further,when the conference call host is driving, traveling, or otherwiseoccupied with some other task, the conference call host may wish toeliminate as many steps as possible when accessing a conference call.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention, in exemplary embodiments, overcomes the abovedisadvantages and other disadvantages not described above. Also, thepresent invention is not required to overcome the disadvantagesdescribed above, and an exemplary embodiment of the present inventionmay not overcome any of the problems described above.

Thus, in one aspect, the present invention is directed to a system forconference calling. The system may comprise a communications deviceoperable by a user to transmit an admission request for admission to aconference call, where the admission request may include a uniqueidentifier. Also included may be a data store including previouslystored data unique to the communications device, and a server operableto receive the admission request from the communications device, torelay the unique identifier to the data store for comparison with thepreviously stored data, and, when the unique identifier and thepreviously stored data match, to connect the user directly to theconference call which includes bypassing entry of at least oneconference pass code by the user.

In another aspect, the present invention is directed to a method forconference calling. The method may comprise: transmitting an admissionrequest from a user of a communications device to a server for admissionto a conference call, the admission request including a uniqueidentifier; storing data unique to the communications device in a datastore; relaying the unique identifier from the server to the data store;comparing the unique identifier with the data unique to thecommunications device; and when the unique identifier and the previouslystored data match, connecting the user directly to the conference callwhich includes bypassing entry of at least one conference pass code bythe user.

A further aspect of the invention includes a computer readable mediumfor conference calling, the computer readable medium havingcomputer-executable instructions for execution by a processing system,the computer-executable instructions for performing steps associatedwith exemplary methods of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating components and data flows of anenrollment process by which conference hosts can enroll in conferencingservices according to the instant invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a data structure suitable for supporting theenrollment process and/or an admission process as taught herein.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating process flow associated with theenrollment process discussed above in connection with FIGS. 1-3.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating components and data flows of aprocess by which enrolled conference hosts are admitted to conferencecalls according to the instant invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating in more detail various aspects ofthe components and data flows shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating process flow associated with theadmission process.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating in more detail components anddata flows pertaining to admitting conference hosts to conference calls,with the invention discussed in connection with FIGS. 1-6 serving apre-processing function.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating process flow similar to that shown inFIG. 6, but more particularly adapted to support the components and dataflows shown in FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS Enrollment ofConference Host(s)

The instant invention provides enrollment and admission processes andapparatus to support expedited or direct entry of conference call hosts(designated generally by the reference sign 100 in FIGS. 1, 4, and 5,and by 700 in FIG. 7) into conference calls. As noted above, in therelated art, conference call hosts access a conference call by dialingan access telephone number, and thereafter entering or otherwiseproviding one or more predefined codes to access the conference call.This type of processing imposes several burdens on the conference callhost. Particularly, the host 100 must memorize these codes, in additionto the access numbers, or must keep a card or other item bearing thesecodes readily accessible when requesting a conference call. Further,when the conference call host 100 is driving, traveling, or otherwiseoccupied with some other task, the conference call host 100 may wish toeliminate as many steps as possible when accessing a conference call.The instant invention provides various systems and methods to achievethese and other objectives.

Various embodiments of the invention that enable prospective conferencecall hosts 100 to enroll for conferencing services with expedited entryto conference calls will be discussed with reference to FIGS. 1-3provided below.

Turning to FIG. 1, a conference call enrollment process 105 receives arequest 101 from a prospective conference call host 100 to subscribe to,enroll in, or register for conferencing services, and can (in someembodiments of the invention) receive from the conference call host 100a unique identifier 103 associated with the conference call host 100.This unique identifier 103 can relate to one or more devices or othermeans from which the conference call host 100 may originate one or morefuture requests for admission to particular conference calls. The dashedline appearing in FIG. 1 indicates that the unique identifier 103 may,but need not necessarily, flow from the host 100 to the conference callenrollment process 105. Alternatively, the conference call enrollmentprocess 105 could generate and/or assign a unique identifier 103 to thehost 100, which identifier 103 can be used by the conference call host100 to request conferencing services or a conference call, irrespectiveof the particular device used by the conference call host 100. In thislatter case, the unique identifier 103 could be a unique telephonenumber assigned only to the conference call host 100, which number theconference call host 100 would dial to access conferencing services.This aspect of the invention is discussed in more detail below inconnection with the conference access information 102.

The unique identifier 103, in whichever form discussed above, isforwarded for storage in the data store 110. The conference callenrollment process 105 also provides to the conference call host 100access information 102 that the given conference call host 100 can useto request a conference call after enrollment. In some embodiments ofthe instant invention, the access information 102 may serve, at least inpart, as the unique identifier 103 when the conference call host 100requests admission to the conference call.

In still other embodiments of the instant invention, the accessinformation 102 could take the form of a telephone number shared among aplurality of hosts 100, at least some of whom share a characteristic,such as having enrolled in conferencing services according to theinstant invention. In these embodiments, the unique identifier 103 couldtake a form other than the telephone number dialed by the host 100.

The conference call enrollment process 105 then configures one or morecomponents of a system that supports connecting the conference call host100 directly to the conference call in response to recognition of theunique identifier and/or the access information assigned to theconference call host 100. Various illustrative examples of thesecomponents are discussed in detail below.

Discussing each one of the above functions in more detail in connectionwith FIG. 3, the method can receive one or more requests 101 from theconference call host 100 to enroll in conferencing services, which canbe provided on a pre-paid billed, or other basis. For example, a givenhost 100 may hold multiple conferencing accounts, with various ones ofthese accounts being either pre-paid or billed. One or more of theseaccounts can be adapted to support the direct or expedited admissionfeature as discussed herein. Further, the conference call host 100 couldselectively enable or disable the expedited entry feature of the presentinvention after completing the enrollment process taught herein.

A prospective conference call host 100 can contact a conference callenrollment process 105 via telephone, internet, e-mail, or any otherknown communications means (not shown) as may be known or recognized asappropriate by those skilled in the art (Block 305 in FIG. 3). If theconference call host 100 wishes to enroll in the expedited or directentry features of the invention, (Block 310 of FIG. 3) the conferencecall enrollment process 105 can obtain, generate, or capture one or moreunique identifiers 103 related to the conference call host 100 (Block320 of FIG. 3). If the host 100 does not wish to utilize the directentry features of the invention, the host 100 is enrolled without usingthe aspects of the present invention (Block 315 in FIG. 3). In moredetail, the host 100 may be prompted as to whether he/she wishes toenroll in the expedited or direct entry feature, or the enrollmentprocess 105 can enroll the host 100 in this feature by default, and thehost 100 may opt-out (and opt back-in) later if desired.

As a non-limiting example of obtaining the unique identifier 103, if theconference call host 100 uses, e.g., a telephone-based communication toenroll in conferencing services, the enrollment process 105 can captureand store the telephone number of the handset from which the conferencecall host 100 originated this telephone communication. The knownAutomatic Number Identification (ANI) service provides, at least inpart, an illustrative but non-limiting means for realizing thisfunction. The ANI service is conventional and well known, and in theinterests of conciseness is not discussed in further detail herein. TheAM information can provide the telephone number or other identifyingindicia associated with a location or a handset (wired or possiblywireless) from which the conference call host 100 originates acommunication. Preferably, this telephone number or other identifyingindicia is unique to the given host 100. Wireless embodiments of theinstant invention may employ known parameters such as a mobileidentification number (MIN) associated with a wireless handset, e.g., acellular telephone or device coupled to communicate using, at least inpart, a wireless link to a communications network used by the host 100.

In general, the stored unique identifier 103 can serve as a means foridentifying the conference call host 100 when the host 100 requestsaccess to a given conference call. In embodiments wherein the uniqueidentifier 103 is captured automatically from some aspect of the host's100 communication during enrollment, the host 100 can be prompted toverify the accuracy of the automatically-captured ANI, as well as beingprompted to accept or consent to the automatic capture of the uniqueidentifier 103, or to consent to enrollment in the “direct connection”feature taught herein.

However, if the conference call host 100 is calling to subscribe from atelephone other than the one from which he or she will later beoriginating conference calls, the conference call host 100 can provideone or more other telephone numbers, any one of which may serve as theoriginating number for conference calls later initiated by the host 100.These other telephone numbers can be entered by the host 100 at the timeof enrollment by keypad DTMF input, voice or speech response (via live,human operator or interactive voice response units (IVR/VRU)), or otherknown data-entry means. Also, these other phone numbers could beacquired by cross-reference to other accounts associated with the host100. These other telephone numbers could function as the uniqueidentifier 103 in addition to, or instead of, the telephone numberautomatically captured via ANI during enrollment. In general, the host100 can provide, and the conference call enrollment process 105 canreceive, one or more different unique identifiers 103 corresponding to aplurality of respective handsets (wired or wireless) from which theconference call host 100 may initiate or originate communications toaccess conferencing services. The conference enrollment process 105 canthen store each unique identifier 103 in the data store 110 for futurereference to identify incoming conferencing calls originating from orotherwise associated with the given host 100 (Block 330 in FIG. 3).

As part of the registration, subscription, or enrollment process 105, oras part of a separate process, the invention can include providing tothe conference call host 100 access information 102 in the form of,e.g., one or more telephone numbers related to requesting conferencecalls (Block 325 in FIG. 3). The conference call host 100 can then usethe access information 102 to request general conferencing services orto request specific conference calls. Given instances of this accessinformation 102 (e.g., telephone numbers) can be assigned to only oneconference call host 100, or may be shared by multiple conference callhosts 100. When the conference call admission process 405 (FIG. 4)receives incoming calls, the admission process 405 can identify thosecalls seeking conferencing services calls by analyzing information(e.g., the number to which these calls are dialed) related to thoseincoming calls, and identifying those incoming calls that are dialed toa destination related to the access information 102. In thoseembodiments where given access information 102 is assigned to only onegiven host 100, the unique identifier 103 can take the same form as thisuniquely-assigned access information 102. Thus, in these embodiments,the host 100 may be identified based only on the access information 102used to place the call.

In the context of dialed telephone call embodiments, the known DialedNumber Information Service (DNIS) provides one illustrative butnon-limiting means for identifying the access information 102 used todial a given call. Thus, this service may be suitable for identifyingwhich incoming callers are seeking to access conferencing services. DNISis conventional and well known, and in the interests of conciseness isnot discussed in further detail herein.

Various aspects of the invention can include configuring one or morecomponents relating to a conference call admission process 405 torecognize incoming calls from the conference call host 100 after thehost 100 has enrolled for conferencing services (Block 330 in FIG. 3).More particularly, the invention can include configuring components thatare adapted to process the telephone number to which an incoming call isdialed (the “destination number”) and/or the telephone number from whichthe incoming call originated (the “originating number”), as a type oftrigger to connect the conference call host 100 directly to a conferencecall. These components can be configured according to the informationcaptured, generated, or otherwise by the enrollment process 105.Illustrative but non-limiting examples of suitable components caninclude software, hardware, data stores (e.g., data store 110)supporting hardware or software components, or any combination of theforegoing, that are configured to perform the functions taught herein.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a data structure suitable for supporting theenrollment process 105 illustrated in FIG. 1 and the conference calladmission process 405 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. This data structure may besuitable for forming, at least in part, the individual records thatcomprise the data store 110. More particularly, given records in thedata store 110 can be populated with data representing the uniqueidentifier(s) 103 associated with the enrolled conference call host 100as discussed herein. Illustrative examples of these unique identifiers103 can include, but are not limited to, data representing a handset, alocation, or an originating telephone number(s) from which theconference call host 100 may initiate communications to accessconferencing services, and/or a unique destination telephone numberassigned to a host 100 by the conference call subscription process.Loading at least these unique identifiers 103 into the data store 110can support or enable one or more software or hardware componentscomprising the conference call admission process 405 to process futureincoming requests for conference calls. Specifically, as discussed belowin connection with FIGS. 3-8, the invention can process a destinationnumber (obtained via e.g., DNIS) and/or an originating number (obtainedvia e.g., ANI) associated with an incoming telephone call and determinethat this telephone call was initiated by a conference call host 100enrolled in conferencing services according to the instant invention. Onat least this basis, the conference call admission process 405 candetermine that this host 100 should be directly connected to aconference call as discussed below.

Turning to FIG. 2 in more detail, unique identifiers 103 correspondingto various hosts 100 can be stored in respective entries under the“column” 225. Other information relating to other given hosts 100 canappear in respective “rows”, e.g., rows 221 a or 221 b. For example, acolumn 205 can list a name for each given enrolled host 100, a column210 can list a conference host code (or host passcode) associated withthe host 100, and a column 215 can list participant codes (orparticipant passcode) supported for the host 100. In those embodimentsthat use a unique destination telephone number to identify the host 100,a column 225 can contain the unique destination telephone numberassigned to a given host 100. Otherwise, in embodiments that do notprovide the host 100 a unique dial-in number, the column 225 couldcontain the unique identifier 103 (ANI, MIN, etc.) for identifying anincoming call placed by the host 100, while a column 220 could containthe destination telephone number that the given host 100 dials to accessconferencing services. Any of these various data could be populated bythe conference call admission process 105.

The process of traversing the data structure in FIG. 2 to admit theconference call host 100 to a given conference call is described indetail below in connection with FIGS. 4-6. Those skilled in the art willunderstand that the format, layout, and content of the data structure asshown in FIG. 2 is illustrative rather than limiting of the instantinvention. Specifically, those skilled in the art will recognize thatvarious changes, modifications, additions, omissions, or alterations maybe made to the data structure shown in FIG. 2 without departing from thescope of the instant invention as recited in the claims appended hereto.More particularly, fields, rows, or columns made be added, modified,reconfigured, or deleted from the data structure as shown in FIG. 2without departing from the scope of the instant invention.

Hardware components suitable for practicing, at least in part, theconference call enrollment process 105 and the conference call admissionprocess 405 discussed below can include general-purpose voice responseunits (VRUs) or interactive voice response (IVR) units configured astaught herein to receive and connect the conference call host 100 to aconference call in response to recognizing a unique identifier (viae.g., ANI or DNIS) associated with the conference call host 100. Othersuitable hardware components that may be configured as discussed abovecan include computer- or processor-based servers that facilitatedirectly connecting the conference call host 100 to a conference callalong with any supporting software. One or more data stores 110populated with data as discussed herein can also support these varioushardware or software components.

The goal of these various configuration processes is to enable thesevarious component(s) to support directly connecting the conference callhost 100 to a conference call, which can be either an existingconference call or a new conference call created in response toreceiving a communication from the conference call host. The term“directly connecting” as used in the instant detailed description canrefer to connecting a conference call host 100 to a given conferencecall without input or entry of any additional data from the conferencecall host 100 aside from dialing the assigned telephone number to accessconferencing services or initiating a communication to accessconferencing services. Also, the term “directly connecting” can refer toconnecting the conference call host 100 to the conference call whilebypassing manual or vocal entry of conference host pass codes, or ofother DTMF data or other data, as input by the conference call host 100.According to the instant invention, any additional information necessaryto admit the host 100 to conference calls is extracted automaticallywithout further action by the conference call host 100. Thus, the host100 is relieved of the burden of memorizing passcodes or the like whenrequesting admission to a conference call. Also, the conference callhost 100 need not refer to a card or other item, or have such card orother item accessible, when requesting a conference call. Instead, thedata store 110 and related data structure shown in FIG. 2 stores anyinformation that is pertinent to admitting the conference call host 100,and data obtained automatically from a communication from the conferencecall host 100 is used to extract this admission-related information fromthe data store 110 automatically without further action taken by thehost 100.

In other embodiments of the invention, the host 100 can be a host 100who has already enrolled in some type of conferencing services, but didnot previously enroll for the “direct connection” feature describedherein. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the conference callenrollment process 105 could support hosts 100 who are either first-timeenrollees, or who are enrolled hosts 100 who subsequently re-enroll foradditional services.

Admission of Conference Host Into Conference Call

Various embodiments of the invention pertaining to admitting conferencecall hosts 100 directly to conference calls will now be discussed inconnection with FIGS. 4-8.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating components and data flowsassociated with processing requests from enrolled conference hosts 100to access conference calls according to the instant invention. Theseembodiments of the invention pertain to admitting conference call hosts100 directly into conference calls.

In summary, a conference call admission process 405 receives a request402 from a given conference call host 100 for access or admission to agiven conference call, and receives data representing a uniqueidentifier 103 provided by or otherwise associated with thecommunication from the conference call host 100 when requesting accessto the conference call. The conference call admission process 405 thensearches the data store 110 for an entry pertaining to the conferencecall host 100, using the unique identifier 103 as a search key or indexfield. Upon matching the unique identifier 103 with a record in the datastore 110, the conference call admission process 405 proceeds to connectthe conference call host 100 directly to a conference call using, atleast in part, the data stored in this record. A conference call mayinclude, e.g. the host 100 and the participants 404 a and 404 b. Twoparticipants are shown in FIGS. 5 and 5 for convenience, but the instantinvention can be used to support any number of participants, with theinteger N shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 assuming any value greater than orequal to 1.

Turning in more detail to FIGS. 4 and 6, the latter being a flowchartillustrating a process flow employed to admit hosts 100 directly toconference calls, the conference call admission process 405 enables thehost 100 to access a conference and/or request direct and/or expeditedadmission or entry to a given conference call. Typically but notexclusively, the conference call admission process 405 receives acommunication or request 402 originating from or initiated by theconference call host 100 that indicates that the given conference callhost 100 is requesting admission to a conference call (decision block600 in FIG. 6). If the incoming communication relates to conferencingservices, processing proceeds to block 610 (discussed below). Otherwise,processing proceeds to block 605 to handle a requested transaction thatis not conferencing-related and thus not dealt with by the instantinvention. Thus, the method taught herein can enable hardware and/orsoftware comprising e.g., a general-purpose, automated, interactive callprocessing platform to support simultaneously both a conferencing andnon-conferencing applications, thereby achieving higher utilization ofthe platform and enabling the platform to support a greater variety ofrevenue-producing transactions. An illustrative example of a conferenceapplication is the conferencing method taught herein, and anillustrative example of a non-conferencing application might include anautomated application enabling purchases of pre-paid phone cards toredeem the calling time associated therewith.

In illustrative but non-limiting embodiments of the instant invention,the request 402 can take the form of a telephone call received from theconference call host 100. Such a telephone call can be dialed to one, orone of a plurality of, pre-defined destination telephone numbers (eithertoll or toll-free, and either shared among several hosts 100 or uniqueto one host 100) that support conference calls. As discussed above,these destination telephone number(s) can be provided to conference callhosts 100 when they register, subscribe to, or enroll in conferencingservices with a conference call enrollment process 105 (see, e.g.,FIG. 1) provided according to the teachings herein. Those calls dialedto telephone numbers that are dedicated to or related to conferencingservices are most likely calls from conferees or hosts 100 seekingaccess to conference calls. The conference call admission process 405can examine data associated with these incoming telephone calls todetermine the destination numbers to which the calls were dialed. TheDNIS service referenced above may be suitable to serve this function,but other methods of performing this function may also be suitable. Moregenerally, the conference call admission process 405 can analyzeinformation related to the request 402 to extract access information 102therefrom, and if the extracted access information 102 matches anyaccess information 102 assigned to an enrolled conference call host 100,then the conference call admission process 405 knows that an enrolledconference call host 100 may be calling in.

The conference call admission process 405 can identify the caller asbeing not only a conference call host 100, but also a conference callhost 100 who has enrolled for conferencing services according to theinstant invention (decision block 610). If the incoming communicationoriginates with an enrolled conference call host 100, then the processproceeds to block 620. Otherwise, the process proceeds to block 615,where the incoming conferencing request is handled using techniquesother than the instant invention.

One illustrative way to identify the caller as an enrolled conferencecall host 100 is to receive and process data representing a uniqueidentifier 103 associated with the communication originated by thecaller. For example, this unique identifier 103 may indicate theoriginating telephone number of one or more handsets associated with aconference call host 100 (via, e.g., ANI), from which handsets theconference call host 100 may initiate requests 402 to access conferencecalls. Where the conference call host 100 is assigned a uniquedestination number for accessing conference calls, this destinationnumber, when recognized in an incoming call via, e.g., DNIS, canidentify a caller as an enrolled conference call host 100.

Turning briefly to a discussion of general operating environments, theconference call admission process 405 and the conference call enrollmentprocess 105 as discussed herein can be implemented over knowncircuit-switched telecommunications networks, including at least in partthe conventional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), as that termis understood by those skilled in the art. Other embodiments of theinstant invention can be implemented over packet-switchedtelecommunications networks, using, e.g., Voice over IP (VoIP). In thesepacket-switched embodiments, the unique identifier 103 associated withthe conference call host 100 and received from communications therewithcan include a signal representing an IP address (or other types ofaddresses relevant to packet-switching) from which the conference callhost 100 originates a communication. Other aspects of thesepacket-switched embodiments can include receiving and processing anyother unique identifier 103 associated with, for example, a networkdevice from which the conference call host 100 originates acommunication.

Returning to FIGS. 4 and 6, the unique identifier 103, however obtainedand in whatever form, can at least partially identify the caller whoinitiated the communication, assuming that the unique identifier 103(e.g., a network address, physical address, telephone number) can bemapped to an entry in a data store containing this information (e.g., adata store 110). Having obtained this unique identifier 103 from thecommunication, the conference call admission process 405 determineswhether a registered conference host 100 is associated with that uniqueidentifier 103 by searching the data store 110 using the uniqueidentifier 103 as a key or index field. For example, referring back toFIG. 2, the conference call admission process 405 can traverse column225 (in which the unique identifiers 103 for the various hosts 100 wherestored by the conference call enrollment process 105) until it locatesan entry matching the unique identifier 103 obtained from thecommunication 402.

If the data store 110 contains a match for the unique identifier 103, itreturns a signal 406 to the conference call admission process 405indicating a “hit”, and the process shown in FIG. 6 takes the “yes” linkfrom the decision block 610 to the block 620. The “row” in the datastore 110 that contains the matching unique identifier 103 thusrepresents the record storing data specific to the given conference callhost 100 who is calling-in with the request 402. The data store 110 canthen retrieve any data contained in the “row” containing the matchedunique identifier 103, and return it upon request to the conference calladmission process 405. This data can include at least a host code orhost passcode associated with the conference call host 100.

More particularly, if the conference call admission process 405determines through, e.g., ANI that an incoming call was dialed from adevice or location associated with a telephone number X, it will attemptto locate a record in the data store 110 indicating that an enrolledconference call host 100 is associated with that telephone number X. Theenrolled host would have provided that number X as a unique identifier103, that is, as a number from which that conference host 100 mayinitiate a request 402 for conferencing services. In this manner, theconference call admission process 405 can map a unique identifier 103pulled from the incoming communication to other information specific tothe conference call host 100 (block 620 in FIG. 6). In any event, theconference call admission process 405 can use this procedure to obtaindata automatically that would otherwise have to be entered or otherwisemanually or verbally provided by the host 100.

Conversely, if the data store 110 does not contain the unique identifier103, the data store 110 returns an appropriate signal 406 to theconference call admission process 405 indicating a “miss”. In thisevent, the process shown in FIG. 6 would proceed (from decision block610) to block 615, where the host 100 is connected or admitted to theconference using means and methods other than those taught herein.

Applying this matching procedure to VoIP embodiments, a uniqueidentifier 103 adapted for use with packet-switched networks can becompared with entries in the data store 110 that contain addresses orother unique identifiers previously stored when conference call hosts100 were enrolled. These unique identifiers 103 can be chosen for orrelevant to use in IP-based or other packet-switched environments.Additionally, this IP-related, unique identifier 103 can be comparedwith one or more previously-designated IP addresses or other uniqueidentifiers 103 associated with a previously-designated network devicefrom which a conference call host 100 may originate communications.

In either the packet-switched or circuit-switched embodiments discussedherein, the relevant unique identifiers 103 that are obtained, compared,and matched can be unique identifiers 103 derived from or otherwiseassociated with either wired or wireless communications devices orcommunications.

Assuming that a match for the unique identifier 103 is found in the datastore 110, then the conference call admission process 405 connects theconference call host 100 directly to a conference call. This conferencecall can be either an existing conference call or a new conference callcreated in response to the request 402 from the conference call host100. In decision block 630, the conference call admission process 405determines whether an existing conference is associated with a hostcode, host passcode, or other host-specific conference identifiersobtained from, e.g., record contained in the data store 110 based on theunique identifier 103. For example, conference participants 404 a and/or404 b, as distinguished from the conference call host 100, may call into the conference call admission process 405 to access a givenconference before the conference call host 100 does so. The participants404 a and/or 404 b may provide a participant code, which is marked bythe conference call admission process 405 to the conference call host100 who provided the participant code to the participants 404 a and 404b. Should the participants 404 a and/or 404 b call in before theconference call host 100 does, the process 405 can either: place theparticipants 404 a and/or 404 b on hold; conference them together withlimited privileges and functions available until the conference callhost 100 calls in; conference them together with full privileges andfunctions, with the conference call host 100 calling in later; or handlethe early-arriving participants 404 a and/or 404 b in other ways.

In block 630, if participants associated with the conference call host100 have already called in when the conference call host 100 calls in,then an existing conference may be in progress, and in block 635, theprocess 405 directly connects the conference call host 100 to thisexisting conference. Otherwise, if no participants 404 a and/or 404 bassociated with the conference call host 100 have already called in, theprocess 405 creates a new conference (block 640), and then proceeds toconnect the conference call host 100 directly to the newly-formedconference (block 635).

The terms “directly connect”, “direct entry”, or “expedited entry” hasthe same meaning as set forth above in connection with the conferencecall enrollment process 105. Referring to FIG. 2, one illustrative butnon-limiting method for facilitating this direct or expedited connectionor entry to the conference call can include retrieving parameters suchas the conference host code 210 for the given conference call host 100,and forwarding it to the conference call admission process 405 so thatthe conference call host 100 can be admitted using this parameter. Thus,the conference call host 100 is relieved of the burden of memorizing,storing, or otherwise keeping track of information such as theconference host code. Instead, this information is extractedautomatically from the communications of the conference call host 100,such as a unique identifier 103 in the form of an ANI parameter pulledfrom the host's incoming call. This automatically extracted informationserves as a means for retrieving previously stored information that isnecessary or required to admit the conference call host 100 to theconference call. Accordingly, to request a conference call, theconference call host 100 need do nothing except dial the telephone orother access number.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a more specific form of the embodimentshown in FIG. 4. Thus, the general unique identifier 103 is replaced byspecific ANI/DNIS information 103 a, and the conference call host 100 isassociated with one or more respective telephone numbers, which aredesignated collectively at 500. These numbers 500 could represent eitheraccess information 102 in the form of destination telephone numbers thatthe conference call host 100 could dial to request a conference call, orunique identifiers 103 in the form of identifiers corresponding to oneor more handsets or locations from which the conference call host 100may originate such requests.

Generalizing the foregoing discussion, the concepts discussed above inconnection with enrolling and admitting conference call hosts can alsobe extended to provide expedited admission of conference callparticipants, or more generally still, any conferee. A “conferee” is aperson who participates in a given conference call, and can be either a“host” or a “participant”. The “host” of the given conference call isthe conferee who actually enrolled for conferencing services and whoassumes primary financial responsibility for the given conference call,as distinguished from a “participant”, as defined below. Some conferencecalls, referred to as “hostless” conference calls, may not have a hostassociated therewith; instead, each conferee pays his or her own chargesfor participating in the given conference call. A “participant” in agiven hosted conference call refers to all conferees in that call otherthan the host. The above discussion related to expedited or directadmission of conference hosts can also be extended to admission ofconferees generally, or participants, as well as hosts. As anon-limiting example, a given conference call host may define a “buddylist”, comprising data representing one or more participants that areassociated with the host. Those participants on the host's buddy listcan then use the enrollment features taught herein to obtain expeditedor direct entry to a conference call associated with the host.

As used herein, the term “conference call” refers to a conversationbetween two or more persons conducted by coupling those persons tocommunicate by voice indirectly using an intermediate, dedicated deviceconnected to communicate with those persons, such as, for example, abridge, a voice response unit, or a mixer, as distinguished fromconducting a direct, point-to-point connection made between each of thepersons. Other hardware suitable for performing the connection andcommunications functions described herein can include, at least in part,private branch exchange (PBX) systems, media servers, media gateways,switches, or the like.

Generalizing the types of unique identifiers discussed above, theseunique identifiers can take the form of biometric data, such asvoiceprints obtained at enrollment time and compared to voice printsobtained from conferees requesting direct admission to a givenconference call. In voice print embodiments, a speech recognition enginemay be useful to process and/or analyze the voiceprints, and can operatein connection with speech-to-text engines to convert the speech input tocorresponding text. This function may be useful not only for identifyingthe conferee based on voice analysis, but also for populating a datastructure supporting a text-based presentation or roster of confereesattending a given conference call. Other forms of biometricidentification can include retina or iris recognition, facial analysis,thumb or fingerprint analysis, or the like.

In further aspects of the invention, the unique identifier can berelated to the means by which the conferee accesses conferencingservices. In these aspects of the invention, the unique identifier cantake forms such as an e-mail address, a Universal Resource Locator(URL), a browser cookie stored on the conferee's computer, an IP addressor an SIP address, or the like. These aspects of the unique identifiermay find particular application in those embodiments wherein a confereeenrolls for or accesses conferencing services via a personal computer,WiFi-based device, wireless-enabled personal digital assistant (PDA),handheld computer, mobile phone, devices based on packet-switchingtechnology, or the like.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating components and data flowsassociated with integrating the conference call admission process 405,as taught above, into a representative overall conference call flow.FIG. 8 is a flowchart of process flow by which the conference calladmission process 405 and related data store 110 perform preliminaryprocessing to support the rest of the components and data flows shown inFIG. 7.

Some of the data flows shown in FIG. 7 can be accomplished usingmessages passed between the various components via a proxy server 115.However, to promote clarity and conciseness, and to avoid overcrowdingin FIG. 7, some of these data flows are shown as bypassing the proxyserver 115, when some of these flows may indeed pass through the proxyserver 115. Thus, the data flows appearing in FIG. 7 (and all otherdrawings herein) are chosen for expository convenience only, and do notlimit the instant invention.

To facilitate understanding of an illustrative but non-limiting sequenceof processing shown in FIG. 7, sequence numbers appear in FIG. 7 insidecircles, and these sequence numbers correspond to the paragraph numbersherein.

1. Turning to FIGS. 7 and 8, a caller 700 uses the access information102 (FIG. 1) to request a conference call (402 in FIG. 4), and thisincoming communication can be processed by the conference call admissionprocess 405 using the process flows shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. Theconference call admission process 405 can be realized as a functionhosted within or aboard the VRU 705, or can be realized on a componentother than the VRU 705. In any event, the incoming request 402 from thecaller 700 can be received at least preliminarily on either the VRU 705or on another component hosting at least the functions illustrated inFIG. 8.

In block 800, the incoming request 402 from the caller 700 is receivedand processed by the conference call admission process 405. In block805, the process 405 automatically obtains one or more uniqueidentifiers 103 related to the incoming communication. Illustrativesuitable unique identifiers 103 can include, but are not limited to,parameters such as ANI or DNIS. At decision block 810, the process 405determines whether the incoming caller 700 is a conference call host 100enrolled for the direct entry feature as taught herein. The functionsrepresented in block 810 can be implemented similarly to thoserepresented in block 610 in FIG. 6, using, e.g., at least the uniqueidentifier(s) 103.

2. If the caller 700 is an enrolled conference call host 100, processingproceeds to block 830, where the process 405 obtains a passcode 210 orother host-specific conference code, based at least in part on theunique identifier 103. The function of block 830 can be implementedsimilarly to that of block 620 in FIG. 6, as discussed in connectionwith the illustrative data structure shown in FIG. 2. The term“passcode” or “conference code” 210 refers to any unique identifierassociated with the conference call host 100 to identify conferencesassociated with a given conference call host 100 to the exclusion ofconferences associated with all other conference call hosts 100. Havingobtained the passcode/conference code 210 or other host-specificconference code, this code 210 can be forwarded to the VRU 705 forfurther processing as discussed below.

3. If the caller 700 is not an conference call host 100 enrolled for thedirect entry feature described herein, processing proceeds to block 815,where the caller 700 is prompted to enter a conference code 701 (e.g.,manually or verbally through a communications device), and in block 820,the conference code 701 is received from the caller 700. More generally,the VRU 705 can prompt the caller 700 to enter a passcode, a conferencecode, or other conference configuration information. Typically, thecaller 700 will respond to these prompts by keying in the requested datavia DTMF input or by speaking the requested codes. In the latter case, aspeech recognition engine (readily available from a variety of vendors)may be deployed to process speech input from the caller 700. In block825, the caller 700 is admitted to the conference call using theillustrative but non-limiting process flow described below. The flowshown in FIG. 8 can reach block 825 from either block 820, wherein theconference call host 100 provides a passcode 701 verbally or manually;or from block 830, wherein the passcode 210 is obtained automaticallyusing only data that is intrinsic to the incoming communication, withoutfurther manual or verbal input from the caller 700. Thus, the conferencecode 711 shown in FIG. 7 represents either the conference code 210 asobtained automatically using the unique identifier 103 or the conferencecode 701 as provided directly by the caller 700.

4. Illustrative but non-limiting examples of the processing representedgenerally in block 825 are now discussed. The VRU 705 can forward theconference code 711 to a provisioning database 710 for validitychecking, if appropriate. For example, only the conference code 701provided by the caller 700 may need validation; the conference code 210obtained automatically from the data store 110 may not necessarily needvalidation. The provisioning database 710 can be populated whenconference hosts 100 enroll for conferencing services. The provisioningdatabase 710 responds to the VRU 705 with a signal 712 indicating thevalidity or invalidity of the conference code 711 submitted by the VRU705. If the conference code 711 submitted by the VRU 705 is invalid, theVRU 705 can reprompt the caller 700 to reenter the conference code 711(not shown explicitly in FIG. 7), and can repeat this process for areasonable number of times. If the caller 700 responds with a conferencecode 711, that code can pass directly to the VRU 705, or can passthrough any number of intermediate components between the VRU 705 andthe caller 700. However, if the caller 700 fails to enter a validconference code 711 within this time frame, the interaction between theVRU 705 and the caller 700 will be terminated, or the caller 700 will beforwarded to a live human operator for resolution.

5. If the conference code 711 submitted by the VRU 705 is valid, the VRU705 passes a message referencing the conference code 711 to a proxyserver 715 requesting that the caller 700 be added to a conference.Those skilled in the art can construct the proxy server 715 to realizethe functions described herein using, for example, a general-purposepersonal computer (PC) running, e.g., an operating system such as any ofthe Windows™ family of operating systems, Linux™, or Unix™, or the like.The proxy server 715 can also run application software, including atleast software relating to supporting Session Initiated Protocol(SIP)-based conferencing and/or telephony. Software suitable for thesepurposes is commercially available from, e.g., Vail Systems, Inc. Theproxy server 715 maintains a list of all active interface servers 720 a,720 b, and 720 c (referenced collectively as interface server 720), andalso tracks the loads currently being supported by each interface server720. The interface servers 720 function at least in part to supportpipes or queues that contain requests to be acted upon by a conferencingdatabase 725. These pipes or queues can assume any type known to thoseskilled in the art, including but not limited to FIFO, LIFO, or othertypes. The interface servers 720 can be implemented to realize thefunctions described herein using general-purpose server hardwareavailable from a variety of vendors. The proxy server 715 keeps runningcounts of pending message requests pending or awaiting on each interfaceserver 720. With this data, the proxy server 715 can perform loadbalancing across each of the various interface servers 720. Theconferencing database 725 can then select requests from various ones ofthe queues supported by the various interface servers 720 for action.The results of such action can be posted or stored in a results queue orother data structure.

6. The proxy server 715 determines that the message referencing theconference code 711 incoming from the VRU 705 should be processed by theconferencing system 735, which comprises at least the interface servers720 and the conferencing database 725. The conferencing database 725tracks state or status data for each conference currently active at anygiven time. Illustrative but non-limiting examples of the types of datagenerated or tracked by the conferencing database 725 can include, butare not limited to: a unique identifier associated with each conference,identifying each conference to the exclusion of all others; alecture-only flag as applicable to each conference; a record flagindicating whether the conference is to be or is being recorded; aunique identifier indicating the mixer 730 assigned to support eachconference; one or more conference keys associated with hosts 100 orparticipants 404 a or 404 b engaged in various conferences. For eachconference supported by the conferencing database 725, as the status ofeach conference changes, the conference database 725 tracks each changein status in a state table or other suitable data structure.

The proxy server 715 selects an available interface server 720 (either720 a, 720 b, or 720 c), and forwards the incoming message referencingthe conference code 711 to the selected interface server 720 a. FIG. 7shows three interface servers 720 a, 720 b, and 720 c for convenience inillustrating the concepts of load balancing and redundancy. However,this arrangement is not mandatory or critical to the instant invention,and various embodiments of the invention may deploy one or moreinterface servers 720, depending on the requirements and circumstancesof a given application of the instant invention.

The proxy server 715 maintains an active list of each currentSIP-enabled device currently operative within the system shown in FIG.7. Each SIP-enabled device is required to register with the proxy server715 upon start-up, and to provide thereafter “heartbeat” messagesperiodically (e.g., once every “x” seconds) to the proxy server 715. Inthis manner, the proxy server 715 can determine which SIP devices arecurrently up and running, and further knows the current status of eachSIP device. If the proxy server 715 does not receive a “heartbeat”message from a given SIP device after expiration of a pre-determinedtime interval (e.g., once every “x” seconds), thus indicates to theproxy server 715 that the given SIP device may be inoperative. The proxyserver 715 can then route future requests or commands to SIP devicesthat function as back-up devices to the apparently inoperative SIPdevice.

7. The conferencing system 735 then determines if a conferenceassociated with the input conference code 711 already exists. If not,the conferencing system 735 will request that a new conference becreated, and the conference database 725 will generate a new uniqueconference identifier 712 for the new conference. The conferencingsystem 735 will then associate the newly generated conference identifier712 with the conference code 711 input by the VRU 705.

8. The new unique conference identifier 712 can be forwarded to the VRU705 and/or to the mixer (730 a, 730 b, or 730 c) that is selected(discussed below) to host the new conference. The VRU 705 can thenassociate all future callers 700 who provide the given conference code711 with the new unique conference identifier 712 and can thus connectthese future callers to the appropriate mixer that is hosting theconference sought by such future callers.

9. Via a new-conference-request message or other suitable mechanism, theconferencing system 735 requests that the proxy server 715 select amixer 730 (from among e.g., the mixers 730 a, 730 b, or 730 c) to hostthe new conference, which is associated with the newly created uniqueconference identifier 712. If necessary, the conferencing database 725can stall the VRU 705 with a temporary acknowledgement command or othersimilar messaging mechanism (not shown in FIG. 7) in order to “buy” moretime to respond to the VRU's original request, i.e., to add the caller700 to a conference.

10. The proxy server 715 selects one of the mixers 730 a, 730 b, or 730c to host the new conference. This selection can be made based uponpresent mixer load and/or capacity (determined using any suitablealgorithm), mixer calls, or other applicable criteria. The mixers 730can be implemented using, e.g., a general-purpose server or computerincluding one or more microprocessors and any hardware necessary tosupport VoIP communications (e.g., one or more specializedvoice-processing boards such as those commercially available fromDialogic, a subsidiary of Intel Corporation), running a suitableoperating system (e.g., Unix™, Linux™ any of the Windows™ family, or thelike), and running suitable application software, including at leastconference mixing software available from Vail Systems, Inc., asreferenced above. The proxy server 715 forwards the “new conference”request to the selected mixer, e.g., mixer 730 a. The proxy server 715maintains data indicating the current status of each of the mixers 730a, 730 b, and 730 c (collectively 730), as discussed above with otherSIP devices. Maintaining status in this manner allows the proxy server715 to perform load balancing among the various mixers 730, similar tothe load balancing described above in connection with the interfaceservers 720, and also prevents the proxy server 715 from sendingconference requests to a “dead” mixer 730.

The same comments above directed to the illustrative number of interfaceservers 720 apply equally to the number of mixers 730 shown in FIG. 7.

If the selected mixer 730 a can create the new conference, it does soand returns an acknowledgement message (not shown) to the conferencingdatabase 725 via the proxy server 715. Otherwise if the selected mixer730 a cannot create the new conference, it returns a negativeacknowledgement to the conferencing database 725 via the proxy server715. In the latter instance, the proxy server 715 would then select adifferent mixer (e.g., mixer 730 b or 730 c) to host the new conference.In any event, once a suitable mixer 730 is located to host the newconference, the conferencing database 725 is updated to show that thenew conference is now assigned to the selected mixer 730 a. A uniqueidentifier corresponding to the selected mixer 730 a is stored with theconference code 711 and/or the conference identifier 712, therebyassociating the conference with the mixer 730 a. The conferencingdatabase 725 can then provide the unique conference identifier 712 tothe selected mixer 730 a and to the VRU 705, and also instructs the VRU705 to connect the caller 700 to the selected mixer 730 a.

11. In response to the command from the conferencing database 725 toconnect the caller 700 to the selected mixer 730 a, the VRU 705 sends aproposed set of IP/port data to the selected mixer 730 a (via the proxyserver 715) for routing the conference stream data (the datarepresenting the verbal or other interactions exchanged betweenconferees) between the VRU 705 and the selected mixer 730 a. The VRU 705also indicates whether the caller 700 is a conference host 100. In someembodiments of the instant invention, the conference will not actuallybegin until the host 100 associated with the conference code 711provided by the VRU 705 has dialed into the conference. Until thathappens, the various participants (e.g., 404 a or 404 b) calling intothe conference may be put on hold, but not actually bridged togetherinto a conference until the host calls in.

12. The selected mixer 730 a responds to the VRU 705 with the actualIP/port information that will be used for passing conferencing-relatedmedia between the mixer 730 a and the VRU 705 for communication with thecaller 700. The mixer 730 a also provides the VRU 705 with informationrelating to any media descriptions or codecs that the VRU 705 may needto process the conferencing stream as passed between the caller 700 andthe selected mixer 73b0a, via the VRU 705. Upon receiving this responsefrom the selected mixer 730 a, the VRU 705 configures itself to receivethe conferencing stream, e.g., by activating its RTP stream, and thecaller 700 is now in the conference. “RTP” stands for real timetransport protocol, which is an IETF standard for streaming real timemultimedia over an IP network in packets. At this point, the VRU 705 andthe selected mixer 730 a are now connected via a local area network.Thus, each caller 700 that calls into a conference may reach the VRU 705via a circuit-switched network (not shown), but the link between the VRU705 and the selected mixer 730 can be via a packet-switched (e.g., VoIP)network. The participants, 404 a and 404 b, and the host 100 can dial-into a conference via different ports on the VRU 705, or even viadifferent VRUs 705 altogether, but will all be linked to a given mixer730, e.g., mixer 730 a.

The conferencing database 725 is updated to show that the VRU 705 andthe caller 700 are in the conference, and the status of each of thevarious devices discussed herein, as well as the overall status of theconference itself, are updated with the conferencing database 725periodically.

Caller Into Existing Conference

If the caller 700 is dialing into an already-existing conference, thesame method as discussed above is partially performed, where theconferencing database 725 checks for an existing conference associatedwith the input conference code 711. If the conferencing database 725locates an existing conference identifier 712 corresponding to theconference code 711 submitted by the VRU 705, the conference database725 knows that the conference sought by the caller 700 currently exists.In this case, the conferencing database 725 then forwards to the VRU 705the identifier of the mixer 730 a that is hosting the existingconference. The VRU 705 then sends an “invite” message to the selectedmixer 730 a. The selected mixer 730 a responds with the IP/port datathat the mixer 730 a will use for transmitting the conference streammedia to the caller 700 via the VRU 705. The VRU 705 then activates itsRTP stream and the caller 700 is now in the conference. The conferencingdatabase 725 is updated accordingly to reflect that the caller 700 is inthe conference.

Computer-Readable Medium/Media Embodiments

A suitable application program can implement software residing on thecomputer-readable medium or media 340, 645, or 835 and embodying thevarious aspects of the method discussed herein and shown in the drawingfigures, and can be coded using any suitable programming or scriptinglanguage. However, it is to be understood that the invention asdescribed herein is not dependent on any particular operating system,environment, or programming language. Illustrative operating systemsinclude without limitation LINUX™ UNIX™, or any of the Windows™-familyof operating systems, and illustrative languages include withoutlimitation a variety of structured and object-oriented languages such asC, C++, Visual Basic, or the like, including those programming or otherconfiguration methodologies applicable to VRUs/IVRs.

As those skilled in the art will understand, the program of instructionscan be loaded and stored onto a program storage medium/media 340, 645,or 835 readable by a computer or other machine, embodying a program ofinstructions executable by the machine to perform the various aspects ofthe invention as discussed and claimed herein, and as illustrated in thedrawing figures. Generally speaking, the program storage medium/media340, 645, or 835 can be implemented using any technology based uponmaterials having specific magnetic, optical, semiconductor or otherproperties that render them suitable for storing computer-readable data,whether such technology involves either volatile or non-volatile storagemedia. Specific examples of such media can include, but are not limitedto, magnetic hard or floppy disks drives, optical drives or CD-ROMs, andany memory technology based on semiconductors or other materials,whether implemented as read-only or random access memory. In short, thisembodiment of the invention may reside either on a medium directlyaddressable by the computer's processor (main memory, howeverimplemented) or on a medium indirectly accessible to the processor(secondary storage media such as hard disk drives, tape drives, CD-ROMdrives, floppy drives, or the like). Consistent with the above teaching,program storage medium/media 340, 645, or 835 can be affixed permanentlyor removably to a bay, socket, connector, or other hardware provided bythe cabinet, motherboard, or other component of a given computer system.

Those skilled in the art will also understand that a computer programmedin accordance with the above teaching using known programming languagesprovides suitable means for realizing the various functions, methods,and processes as described and claimed herein and as illustrated in thedrawing figures attached hereto.

Those skilled in the art, when reading this description, will understandthat unless expressly stated to the contrary, the use of the singular orthe plural number herein is illustrative, rather than limiting, of theinstant invention. Accordingly, where a given term is discussed in thesingular number, it will be well understood that the invention alsocontemplates a plural number of the item corresponding to the given termand vice versa, unless expressly stated herein to the contrary.

Those skilled in the art will further recognize that for the purposes ofexpository convenience, legibility, and clarity, various data stores ordatabases 110, 710, and 725 are shown separately, and they are discussedseparately herein. However, the embodiments shown herein areillustrative rather than limiting, and that some or all of these variousdata stores could readily be combined or consolidated into one or moredata stores without departing from the scope of the invention.

The term “data store” herein refers to any storage medium capable ofstoring data, whether realized using semiconductor, magnetic, or opticaltechnology. This term can also include abstract data structuressupported by any number of programming languages, with non-limitingexamples including queues, stacks, linked lists or the like, all ofwhich are implemented at the machine level by disk storage,semiconductor memory, optical media, or the like. If the data store 108is implemented as a database, this database can take the form of arelational database, an object-oriented database, and any combinationthereof, or any other known database technology. Suitable databaseserver programs are readily available from a variety of vendors,including IBM/Informix, Microsoft, Oracle, or the like.

Various embodiments of the invention are described above to facilitate athorough understanding of various aspects of the invention. However,these embodiments are to be understood as illustrative rather thanlimiting in nature, and those skilled in the art will recognize thatvarious modifications or extensions of these embodiments will fallwithin the scope of the invention, which is defined by the appendedclaims.

We claim:
 1. A system for conference calling, comprising: acommunications device operable by a user to transmit an admissionrequest for admission to a conference call, the admission requestincluding a unique identifier wherein the conference call is one of anexisting conference call and a new conference call created in responseto the admission request; a data store including previously stored dataunique to the communications device; and a server operable to receivethe admission request from the communications device, to relay theunique identifier to the data store for comparison with the previouslystored data, and, when the unique identifier and the previously storeddata match, to connect the user directly to the conference call whichincludes bypassing entry of at least one conference pass code by theuser and to store the unique identifier in the data store for futurereference to identify incoming conference calls including at least oneof originating from the communications device and associated with thecommunications device wherein the unique identifier comprises a uniquedestination telephone number contacted by the communications device totransmit the admission request and wherein additional informationassociated with at least one of the communications device and its useris not examined and the conference call is originated withoutprearrangement with a service provider.
 2. The system as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the communications device comprises one of a telephone,a personal computer, a WiFi-based device, a personal digital assistant(PDA), and a handheld computer.
 3. The system as claimed in claim 1,wherein the data store comprises one of a magnetic hard drive, a floppydisk, an optical drive, and a CD-ROM.
 4. The system as claimed in claim1, wherein the server includes one of voice response units andinteractive voice response units.
 5. The system as claimed in claim 1,wherein communications between the communications device, the datastore, and the server are transmitted and received via one of acircuit-switched telecommunications network and a packet-switchedtelecommunications network.
 6. The system as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe unique identifier additionally comprises one of a telephone numberof the communications device, a telephone number assigned to the user, amobile identification number, biometric data, an e-mail address, aUniverse Resource Locator (URL), a browser cookie, an Internet Protocol(IP) address, and a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) address.
 7. Amethod for conference calling, the method comprising: transmitting anadmission request from a user of a communications device to a server foradmission to a conference call, the admission request including a uniqueidentifier wherein the conference call is one of an existing conferencecall and a new conference call created in response to the admissionrequest; storing data unique to the communications device in a datastore; relaying the unique identifier from the server to the data store;comparing the unique identifier with the data unique to thecommunications device; and when the unique identifier and the previouslystored data match, connecting the user directly to the conference callwhich includes bypassing entry of at least one conference pass code bythe user, and storing the unique identifier in the data store for futurereference to identify incoming conference calls including at least oneof originating from the communications device and associated with thecommunications device wherein the unique identifier comprises a uniquedestination telephone number contacted by the communications device totransmit the admission request and wherein additional informationassociated with at least one of the communications device and its useris not examined and the conference call is originated withoutprearrangement with a service provider.
 8. The method as claimed inclaim 7, wherein the server includes one of voice response units andinteractive voice response units.
 9. The method as claimed in claim 7,wherein the communications device is a telephone with one of a wiredconnection and wireless connection.
 10. The method as claimed in claim7, wherein the user of the communications device arranges for at leastone of receiving admission to existing conference calls and starting newconference calls in a contractual arrangement with a provider ofconference calling services.
 11. The method as claimed in claim 7,wherein one of a telephone number of the communications device, atelephone number assigned to the user, a mobile identification number,biometric data, an e-mail address, a Universe Resource Locator (URL), abrowser cookie, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, and a SessionInitiation Protocol (SIP) address is alternatively transmitted from thecommunications device to the server as the unique identifier.
 12. Themethod as claimed in claim 7, further comprising providing accessinformation for accessing the conference call from the server to thecommunications device.
 13. The method as claimed in claim 12, whereinthe unique identifier comprises the access information.
 14. Anon-transitory computer readable storage medium for conference calling,the non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprisinginstructions that, when executed by a processor, perform: transmittingan admission request from a user of a communications device to a serverfor admission to a conference call, the admission request including aunique identifier wherein the conference call is one of an existingconference call and a new conference call created in response to theadmission request; storing data unique to the communications device in adata store; relaying the unique identifier from the server to the datastore; comparing the unique identifier with the data unique to thecommunications device; and when the unique identifier and the previouslystored data match, connecting the user directly to the conference callwhich includes bypassing entry of at least one conference pass code bythe user, and storing the unique identifier in the data store for futurereference to identify incoming conference calls including at least oneof originating from the communications device and associated with thecommunications device wherein the unique identifier comprises a uniquedestination telephone number contacted by the communications device totransmit the admission request and wherein additional informationassociated with at least one of the communications device and its useris not examined and the conference call is originated withoutprearrangement with a service provider.
 15. The non-transitory computerreadable medium as claimed in claim 14, wherein the communicationsdevice is a telephone with one of a wired connection and wirelessconnection.
 16. The non-transitory computer readable medium as claimedin claim 14, wherein the communications device comprises one of atelephone, a personal computer, a WiFi-based device, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), and a handheld computer.
 17. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium as claimed in claim 14, wherein the user of thecommunications device arranges for at least one of receiving admissionto existing conference calls and starting new conference calls in acontractual arrangement with a provider of conference calling services.18. The non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 14,wherein one of a telephone number of the communications device, atelephone number assigned to the user, a mobile identification number,biometric data, an e-mail address, a Universe Resource Locator (URL), abrowser cookie, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, and a SessionInitiation Protocol (SIP) address is alternatively transmitted from thecommunications device to the server as the unique identifier.
 19. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 14, furthercomprising instructions for providing access information for accessingthe conference call from the server to the communications device. 20.The non-transitory computer readable medium as claimed in claim 19,wherein the unique identifier comprises the access information.